Avaya implores VARs to boost maintenance renewal rates

Vendor's new services chief works to improve 71 per cent contract renewal rate

Avaya is offering hefty rebates to partners to increase renewal rates for maintenance contracts, comparing its current modest rate to "throwing money away".

Mohamad Ali joined Avaya as president of client services six months ago. Speaking yesterday at the vendor's EMEA partner summit in Berlin, the new services chief told attendees that one of his first acts had been to examine the Avaya's renewal rates for maintenance services contracts.

"Our renewal rate was 71 per cent; for every dollar, we were throwing away 29 cents. That's terrible business, right?," he said. "I have focused on this and got that up to 82 per cent. In the next 12 months, I fully expect to get that up to 87 per cent."

To encourage partners to drive up renewal rates, an incremental rebate scheme is being introduced, with rebates of up to 90 per cent being offered to partners improving their rate.

Jan Lawford, senior director of EMEA channels at Avaya, implored VARs to drive maintenance renewal business.

"Renewals are low-hanging fruit for all of us; it is an easy revenue stream," she said. "If you can improve the rate by just a little bit, it will improve revenues for all of us. I would like to partners to think about how to improve their renewal rate and what they want from us to help them deliver that."